Struggling with debt? Ask a stepchange debt adviser a question

MrsF34

Hi, 

I applied for a debt payment plan a few days ago and since then, I have been contacting my creditors to advise them of this. One of my issues is that two of my debts are related to my bank: I have a personal loan and an overdraft. I haven’t informed them yet as I’m due to be paid on 30th and I didn’t want them to freeze my account beforehand. I have applied for a new bank account which should be set up in the next couple of days. I doubt I’ll have enough time to change all my priority bills over in time so was going to do it after their due date on 1st-3rd June. The DPP won’t be set up by then given the timelines in the email. 

Is this the right course of action ie the new bank account elsewhere and moving my bills? 

Thanks

Ex_welsh_borrower

Hi me again!

I've had a letter today from PRA Group stating they cannot locate the CCA agreement for a Barclaycard debt they purchased. The letter states they deem this unenforceable but it's still to be pursued for payment etc. My question is does this impact on the way Step Change handle my debts?

Will they advise not to pay it and focus on the enforceable debts or continue my DMP as I have been?

StepChange_Patience

MrsF34 said:

Hi, 

I applied for a debt payment plan a few days ago and since then, I have been contacting my creditors to advise them of this. One of my issues is that two of my debts are related to my bank: I have a personal loan and an overdraft. I haven’t informed them yet as I’m due to be paid on 30th and I didn’t want them to freeze my account beforehand. I have applied for a new bank account which should be set up in the next couple of days. I doubt I’ll have enough time to change all my priority bills over in time so was going to do it after their due date on 1st-3rd June. The DPP won’t be set up by then given the timelines in the email. 

Is this the right course of action ie the new bank account elsewhere and moving my bills? 

Thanks

Hi there 

Thank you for getting in touch.

It's great to hear you're setting up a debt payment plan to deal with the debts, I wish you the best of luck with your plan to becoming debt free. 

It sounds like you've taken some positive steps to deal with the bank account, before setting up a solution we recommend speaking to your bank to see if they can help or look to open a new basic bank account. 

Timing can sometimes be a little tricky, but once the new account is open I think it'll be a good idea to move your income and your priority bills over to the new account. 

You can find out more information on our website here.

I hope this helps. 

Patience

StepChange_Patience

Ex_welsh_borrower said:

Hi me again!

I've had a letter today from PRA Group stating they cannot locate the CCA agreement for a Barclaycard debt they purchased. The letter states they deem this unenforceable but it's still to be pursued for payment etc. My question is does this impact on the way Step Change handle my debts?

Will they advise not to pay it and focus on the enforceable debts or continue my DMP as I have been?

Hi there

Thanks for getting back in touch. 

We may still look to include the debt and distribute their fair share, but the best thing to do would be to call our Client Support team, who may be able to talk you through next steps and your options with this debt.

You can find how to contact StepChange here.

I hope this helps.

Patience

Desperadoo

can anyone share a link for SOA please ?  the ones I found link says not found. 

thanks 

sourcrates

Desperadoo said:

can anyone share a link for SOA please ?  the ones I found link says not found. 

thanks 

This is the stepchange debt advisors thread, the link you want is here -

SOA Calculator (stoozing.com)

KyriC

Hi,

I am looking to get out of debt ASAP so i can finally save towards my goals and have peace of mind

I currently in around 7000 pounds worth of credit card debt. All of my debt is credit card debt split between 4 different cards and i make the minimum monthly payment each month without fail. 

I would like to know the best/quickest way to pay off these cards and if i should explore the option of getting a loan in order to consolidate my debts.

3 of the cards are interest free and 1 is an AMEX with an APR of about 25% i believe.

Please advise how i should be tackling this debt effectively.

StepChange_Patience

KyriC said:

Hi,

I am looking to get out of debt ASAP so i can finally save towards my goals and have peace of mind

I currently in around 7000 pounds worth of credit card debt. All of my debt is credit card debt split between 4 different cards and i make the minimum monthly payment each month without fail. 

I would like to know the best/quickest way to pay off these cards and if i should explore the option of getting a loan in order to consolidate my debts.

3 of the cards are interest free and 1 is an AMEX with an APR of about 25% i believe.

Please advise how i should be tackling this debt effectively.

Hi there

Thank you for your post.

It depends on what you feel you can afford to do, it may be useful to first of all complete a budget or you may see it referred to on this forum as an SOA (statement of affairs), you can find an example of that here.

Once you've completed a budget, you'll be able to see if a consolidation loan may be affordable or if you're in a position to pay more than the minimum payment to clear the debts sooner. 

Sometimes taking out further credit to consolidate debt can make the situation worse, if your credit file has been impacted by the amount of debt outstanding this can sometimes make affordable interest rates more difficult to get, so it's worth bearing this in mind when you're making a decision. 

This website has some further handy tips with dealing with credit card debts.

I hope this helps. 

Patience

MingVase

My son has a lot of debt but is refusing to contact stepchange or any other debt helpline because he believes that he could or would be forced to sell his bikes - he has 3. (Not worth a huge amount and one is used to get to work.) I don't think this is true but could you clarify for me please?

StepChange_Allen

MingVase said:

My son has a lot of debt but is refusing to contact stepchange or any other debt helpline because he believes that he could or would be forced to sell his bikes - he has 3. (Not worth a huge amount and one is used to get to work.) I don't think this is true but could you clarify for me please?

Hi there

Thanks for posting.

We provide a free service and once we have assessed a client's budget and debt situation, we make a recommendation of the best solution to resolve that person's financial difficulty. We explain all the ins and outs of all debt solutions, including potential consequences such as losing assets. If that client doesn't want to do that solution because of losing those assets, they don't have to and can look to do something else.

Specifically here, if you're referring to bicycles as opposed to motorbikes, and they're just your regular type of bike worth a couple of hundred pounds for example, it's extremely unlikely they'd be affected in any solution. The most common assets that could be an issue in say bankruptcy would be houses and cars, plus cash and high value items typically worth thousands rather than hundreds.

I'd definitely recommend he gives us a call as there's no obligation to follow the advice anyway, as I suggest.

I hope this helps.

Allen